Modern Building Services

30 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES DECEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023 BESA CONFERENCE AND AWARDS 2022 The Conference More than 50 speakers across three busy theatres addressed the conference theme: ‘Bringing buildings to life’ from a wide variety of angles including current and future skills, the decarbonisation challenge, human health and well-being, and the implications of the country’s current economic woes. This also saw the launch of World Ventil8 Day 1 – a global initiative aimed at improving ventilation standards in buildings to protect the health, well-being, and productivity of people worldwide. The event, was sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric 2 . Throughout the day many important industry topics were covered at panel debates and indepth technical presentations. CEO David Frise reminded the industry that its work was important “because 90% of us spend 90% of our time in a building so the social good that results from good building engineering services is massive”. Pressure He said the industry played a crucial role in people’s health and well-being. However, he added that the way we design and build led to “broken buildings…and broken people” with two suicides a day evidence of the pressure many construction workers face. As a result, the Association was supporting themental health charity Light House Club 3 with a £10 donation for every delegate. BESA members were also able to attend the conference for free thanks to the high level of sponsorship received. BESA President Rab Fletcher also welcomed the return of ‘real life’ events pointing out there was no substitute for “being in the room”. He said: “Anyone who isn’t here todaymay well havemissed a key conversation or chancemeeting that could change their business, and, they won’t have heard or engaged with our wide field of experts from across the industry and beyond. “The country is facing a series of crises, including energy supplies, cost-of-living, climate change, and building safety but there was still room for optimism. “Many of us have been arguing in favour of energy efficiency for years, but it was hard to get clients to invest,” he told the Conference. Now the financial argument has changed…and while politicians are looking for quick fixes and short- term sticking plasters, our industry will be central to efforts to put this right for the long-term.” The President added that BESA was ‘pushing hard’ for a fully funded national programme of building retrofits as the best andmost cost-effectiveway to reduce carbon emissions in linewith net zero targets. However, he also urged the delegates to look at how commercial buildings could be re-purposed in the face of changing occupancy patterns. This theme was picked up during a panel session about ‘The Future Building’ where speakers pointed out that more clients, planners, and developers were challenging the industry to make existing buildings perform better rather than build new ones. “The industry needs to get its head around the fact that refurbishment is where it is happening,” said Frances Brown, Associate Director of Hoare Lea. “The market is moving quickly towards re-use and repurpose and that means in-depth improvement of building performance through continuous upgrades.” Several speakers also said Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting was another driving force for clients keen to improve their carbon footprint and deliver better building ‘experiences’ for their own staff, customers and tenants. The keynote address was delivered by healthy building champion Professor Cath Noakes OBE from the University of Leeds. She said: “Ventilation was the most overlooked building safety issue and stressed the importance of infection control being part of building designs. The Building Engineering Services Association’s first ‘in person’ National Conference and Awards for three years broke historic attendance records with 270 delegates and more than 400 guests at a sparkling awards dinner in London hosted by the comedian Zoe Lyons. ‘Buzz and energy’ as BESA Conference and Awards bounce back